WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SABBATH? |
As we know, this is a topic of some contention.
But surely there is no contention when God gives His verdict. |
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That God instituted the holy sabbath on the 7th day under Moses as an observation for
His people is usually agreed upon as being Scriptual.
It is also true that some Roman renegade since Christ changed a 7th day sabbath to the
Sunday in recognition of his heathen sun god.
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But neither of these
truths alter the New Testament Scriptual truth that explicitly reveals God's mind on the
matter.
Namely, that, the Mosaic law of God being but a shadow of the New Covenant which Christ
ushered in, God's people have now entered a state of New Covenant 'rest' 7
days a week, that word 'rest' being the very same word in the original Greek language
as the O.T. 'sabbath', proving (as in every other case) that not one jot or
tittle has passed away from the O.T. law of God but what is in fact fulfilled by the
Spirit in the New Covenant-for those who 'are born of the Spirit and washed
in His Blood', and 'have an ear to hear what the Spirit has said to the Church,
rather than died-in-the-wool Pharisaical traditionalists-the veil that was 'rent' and (in
a sense) 'done away' at Calvary! |
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So clear was Paul on this matter that he condemned those who ruled any day as more
holy than another, taking it as an insult to Christ's blood-bought transformation of O.T.
external form and ceremony into the reality of New Covenant life in the Spirit.
Paul went as far as to forbid us being hood-winked into going back to these 'dead
works', the type and shadow of that which had come and is fulfilled in Christ in us!
('But who hath believed the report?.....') |
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It is true that the early church under the apostles' influence met together for
breaking of bread etc on the first day of the week (well before any Roman law said yea
or nay), the day which Christ Himself chose to meet with His followers, the day of
His resurrection-surely a rebuke for any traditionalist!
But even such a first day of the week routine was preached against by Paul if taken as a
rule to be imposed by anyone on anyone.
Irrefutably, at Paul's conversion and revelation of Christ he was no longer a
Pharisee! He was a Christian! serving God no longer in the oldness of the letter, but in
the newness of the Spirit! not every 7th day, but every 7 days!.......everyday! |
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No one could tell Paul that the New Covenant wasn't 7 times better than the old. In
fact Paul clearly states that 'the shadow' could not be compared with 'the
substance!' Amen?
What a wonderful topic!
And how many other doors it opens for those who are willing to know Christ not after the
flesh, but in the power of the resurrection!
Praise God for His unspeakable Gift! |
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| Hebrews 4:3-10, Galatians 4:9-11, Romans 14:5, Colossians 2:16-17, 2 Corinthians
3:6-18, John 20:19, Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. |
Brother Donald
Wilson
Seed Sown Services
Luke 13:6-9
August 2004 |
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